Switchfoot: Hello Hurricane

Yes, the voice of Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman does sound more than a little like Bono’s, especially on U2-conjuring anthems like “Always.” And sure — with the band’s wide-angle, phones-in-the-air approach seemingly aimed for the nosebleed seats, Switchfoot has much in common with arena-rocking peers like Coldplay and Snow Patrol.

You don’t listen to Switchfoot for groundbreaking originality. The band’s seventh full-length is meat-and-potatoes arena rock polished to a gleaming sheen (thanks to producer Mike Elizondo), wrapped around huge hooks and intercut by Foreman’s incisive, discontented lyrics, which almost always manage to translate sentiments rooted deeply in faith to universally relatable choruses. While Hello Hurricane has its share of aching ballads and mid-tempo head-nodders, the stars here are all-out rockers like “Mess of Me,” “The Sound (John M. Perkins Blues)” and “Bullet Soul,” which feature some of the most aggressive sounds this San Diego crew has ever recorded.